Siesta time!

Well, today I finally got to talk to BJ for the first time since Monday! That's a big hurray! We actually talked like 3 or 4 times today, for 15 or 20 minutes each, in between going to the hospital for orientation, class, and lunch. I was really glad we caught each other.
The people who work here at the hostel are really nice. I like talking with them to improve my Spanish, and they usually slow down a bit. They are ok with explaining things to us that we don't understand too. We are all so tired, but that's ok because siesta is about to start. Here in Argentina, Siesta happens either from 1pm to 4pm or 2pm to 5pm, depending on the place, and everything (I mean pretty much all the shops and companies and stuff) shuts down, people go home for lunch, and nap. After siesta, people go back to work, children go back to school, and don't get home for a few more hours. Then they eat dinner at about 9:30 or 10pm, sometimes later, and then go to bed. It is so crazy! Sometimes it doesn't work out so great for me, because I like to go to bed earlier than that. But it is kind of fun too. Last night I didn't go with everyone out to dinner because they didn't leave until 10pm and I was starving! So I had corn flakes. The milk here doesn't taste too bad if it is with something else like cereal, but it does taste a little funny by itself.
I just got back from a spin class (hard core biking!) at the gym we signed up at. It was like $8 for the month, and 8 of us signed up tonight. We all thought the class was going to be 30 minutes, but it ended up being an hour long. I thought I was going to die, especially since the bikes seats were too tall!
Tonight at 9:30 we are all going out for dinner. I am not sure where. Food is generally pretty cheap here. Some of the moderately expensive places are $15 pesos a plate ($5 US dollars).

My first couple of days in India

So... I really don't have much of interest to report.  I have been at work or home pretty much the whole time.  The people at the office are very friendly.  I don't know any of them very well yet, but they take good care of me.  If I need a driver to go somewhere, I'll tell a girl here... she calls the company, and I have my own private driver ready to take me anywhere I need to go.  Right now, I'm kinda alone here though.  Dave has left to go on a vacation, and will be gone for a week.  And so with my very helpful Indian friends here to aid me... I get to fend for my self.  Not very many people here speak English.  Where I work, most of them do, and some do quite well.  But even those who are fluent are hard to understand at times.  It is hard to know how much they understand you too.  They always nod their head like they understand... but it often becomes obvious that they don't.  For example, while I was in the car, I told my driver that after we reached our destination, that I would need to go back to work.  He replied "20 minutes".  I can only assume that he thought I was asking a question about how long it would take to get back to work when I was done.  All the same, he took me back to work.  It does remind me of being in Korea a bit though.  However, I could understand the Koreans' English better than I can the Indians' English.  It is really quite hot here.  The office is constantly in the low 90s.  Something that I struggle with a bit.  But thankfully, there is a nice guy who comes around every so often with a ice cold bottle of water for me.  I'm not sure what his job really is.  It seems to be "errand boy", but I'm not sure.  Anyways, I hope you are all doing well.  I'm looking forward to more cultural experiences here to share with you, but I think out of concern for me, I'm kind of sheltered from the culture in many ways.  For example, for lunch today, they are ordering in a pepperoni pizza for me.  It should be here shortly.  I should say though, that nothing American here is truly American.  Just like Indian food in America isn't truly Indian. 

Love you all!

Update

Somehow my computer knows that I am in Argentina! It is displaying some of my websites in Spanish to me... such as this one!
Well, things are going fairly well. I have been here for nearly 2 days, and I can tell that it is going to be an adjustment- in a good way. When I first got here I couldn't understand a word that was said. The people here talk very quickly, and have different accents and dialects in every province. I am starting to understand more and more, and I can always get the gist of the conversation, but certain people are just very difficult to understand. Everyone is very nice though.
There are many things that are different that I never would have guessed- I never knew that there could be a learning curve for grocery shopping, but there is, when many of the foods are different, and they are all written in another language! I couldn't find peanut butter, liquid soap, or paper towels at the store, and milk comes in tiny little boxes. I haven't tried it yet, but I hear it is very different than what we are used to. Also- when people here meet, even complete strangers, but especially among women, the older generations, and friends, it is expected that you "kiss" cheeks. I missed doing this the first time because I had no idea, and couldn't figure out why someone was leaning so close to my face. After I understood what the custom was, it was just fine, and I have been "kissed" on the cheek many times today.
I am living in a youth hostel. It is kind of a fun place with very brightly painted walls- of all colors. My room is purple and orange. We have no carpet or heating. Several rooms (but not mine) open directly onto an outdoor patio, so it gets pretty cold, especially at night. Temperatures aren't too bad though, for winter. It has been in the 50's and 60's I think. Yep- right now, the temperature in my room is 66 degrees. Not too bad.
Today we walked to the hospital and met the director and also took taxis to the community center and talked to the people there. It sounds like they have some other needs besides the comedores that they would like us to work on. So maybe some of us will still work with the children, and others will be working with the elderly in a healthy aging program. There are several students who are doing research projects, and so we will all be participating in those projects, helping gather data and implementing the interventions we might come up with for improving health, especially in the maternity hospital. Speaking of that hospital, I knew it would be a poor hospital, but I didn't realize how much they were lacking. We have brought many sheets, scrubs, blankets, and various other hospital supplies with us. I knew they had no sheets. I didn't know they had no towels. It is a much bigger hospital than I had imagined. They use the things we bring all year, we were told. They appreciate what we bring- it is pretty much all they get from the U.S., I think, because you cannot mail things to them (there is a tax on everything that comes into the country, which they cannot pay, and besides, there is no guarantee that what you send will ever arrive where it is meant to go).
Here is the link to some pictures I posted. Don't judge the photography too much- I took the pictures kind of fast, and they aren't really meant to be artistic, just document the place I live! http://picasaweb.google.com/RochelleCTaylor/YouthHostel?authkey=ELRWjOTTG0w
Well, I think that is enough for now. If you have things you want to know about where I am, email me, or comment, and I will do my best to answer your question. I will tell you more about what I am doing here next week- when I actually start doing stuff at the hospital etc.

I made it!

Well I made it.  It was an incredibly long trip... but I'm here.  I'm using Dave's computer right now at the office.  He went home to take a nap.  He was up all night programming.  I should be tired, I haven't slept much in the last couple of days, but I couldn't sleep anymore this morning.  I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night at the house, and I slept something like 6 hours on the plane.  But I survived, and am at last here.  I haven't seen much yet... I haven't tried any Indian food yet... but I think I'll get my first real meal here within the hour.  Wish me luck!  ;-)  The people at the office are very nice.  It sounds like they intend to take good care of me.  I think they were expecting me to have a lot to say when I got here... but I've been fairly quiet, and am not certain of what to say to them.  It will be interesting.  I really need to talk to Dave before I start giving out any orders or anything like that.  I'm not a boss... but then again, I don't really know what I am.  So all I can really say is, "Hi, I'm BJ."  And then I become quiet.  ;-)  Dave's house is nice.  I'll be staying there for the next week or so.  At which point, I'll be moving to another house that is closer to eco tech.  I haven't seen it yet.  It's warm here.  In the office it is 92 degrees.  But there are lots of fans blowing, so it is ok.  But it is supposed to get warmer too.  This is only May.  eek. 
Love you all!

Long over due pictures

I realized the other day that I never posted these pictures from Tanner's blessing. Please click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/taylors2004/TannerSBlessing

I'm sorry Dani and all for not getting these out sooner. I hope you enjoy them!

Ok, ok

I promised BJ that I would blog, so here I am. BJ has already posted all of the interesting/ exciting stuff, but I will add my two cents. I finished up with finals last week, and they all went well. I am glad to be done with the semester. In the meantime, I have been running around town, doing errands and preparing to leave. I am actually all packed up, minus a few things, and just have a few more things to do. I looked at a plug adapter that I bought for Argentina, and realized it was the wrong one today. Darn. I will have to go back and get the right one. For the past couple of weeks, I have gathered medical supplies and hygiene supplies. The medical supplies will be donated to the maternity hospital. It is a community hospital, so not nearly as nice as some of the privately funded hospitals in the area. They lack many supplies we take for granted. Our goal is not to go in and "save" them (thus undermining their self- reliance etc.) by donating tons of stuff, but we do try to bring a few things that might be hard for them to get down there. It is sort of our way of saying we care, and thank you for letting us observe and learn in your hospital. We will work in the labor and delivery unit, the mother baby unit, and the NICU there.
The hygiene supplies have a unique use, which I will explain shortly. We spend part of our clinical time in the comedores, which I explained a little bit in an earlier post. It is pretty sad, but this government funded program provides, for many children, the only meal they will eat that day. Even more hard to accept is the fact that it does not provide complete nutrition (a typical meal is a bowl of white rice, with a few onions or other similar vegetable in it, some beans, and a piece of bread) and that in some neighborhoods, where the children have to bring their own bowls in order to get food, the children take the food home and share their small meal with the entire family. Our role in this program is to monitor their growth and health status. We measure their heights and weights, test their hemoglobin levels, and do lots of teaching. One of the main things we teach about is hygiene. I/ we have collected sample shampoos, soaps, and lotions, and toothbrushes/ toothpaste that we will pass out to the children as we teach them how to use them. It may sound crazy that they wouldn't know how to use them properly, but many of them just haven't had access to the things we will be teaching. It will be interesting to see how that goes.
While in Argentina, I will be visiting a few sightseeing places. We will go to Salta, Buenos Aires, and Iguazu (the waterfalls that would put Niagara to shame) for sure. Getting to Tucuman, where I will be living for the majority of the next 6 weeks will be an adventure in and of itself, but that will be a story for another time.

Let's Talk!

So as you may have noticed... Rochelle and I are getting ready to take off here in a few days. Rochelle leaves on Monday... and I leave on Tuesday. I get back on June 19th, Rochelle on the 20th. My travel itinerary was scheduled to match up with hers. So, now that we are going to be scattered across the face of the earth, how do we keep from loosing contact with each other? Well, we are going to do be using a couple of voice chat programs.

Google Talk: http://www.google.com/talk/
Skype: http://www.skype.com/download/

The two programs are pretty similar in functionality. They both allow you to chat over the internet for free (you just need a headset with a mic, or speakers and a separate mic, although the headset is preferred). Although both Rochelle and I have both programs installed, we kinda favor talk over skype, even though we tried this first on skype (it's the one that I use at work to talk with my boss). Google Talk seems to be a little easier to set up and configure, and well... I'm a google fan. Anyways, you don't need a gmail account for Google Talk, but you do need a "Google" account, and it will help you set one up if that's the one you prefer. Skype also needs an account. Just please don't pay skype any money. You don't need to (although I'm sure they wouldn't mind it), all the features you need are free. They just want you to buy extra features. I should say also, that skype allows you to see our pretty faces on the webcam, although we will not be able to see yours if you do not have one. If you look to the right, you will see a series of world clocks. And just above that, a link that shows a time chart for the 4 different time zones. Rochelle and I haven't figured out when we are going to be able to talk to each other yet. We don't know what our schedules will be like yet. But when we do, we will let you all know, and try to say 'hi' as often as we are able. We are also going to try to keep the blog updated. Ron and Sue have a headset and are set up, and so does Quin and Cindy, and so we will be able to talk with them as time allows. But because we aren't calling on the traditional telephone, if the computer is off, there is no way for us to get a hold of you. At that point, we can only blog and email. I'm sure I'll be at work a lot, and so you might be able to get a hold of me fairly easily at certain times. Rochelle doesn't know when she will be available yet. My skype account is beeg_98, by google account is taylors2004, Rochelle's skype is rochellerct, and her google account is rochellectaylor. We will welcome your calls!

Love you all!

Tulip Festival

Today, Mom, Dad, Rochelle and I went to take some pictures at the tulip festival. It was a lot of fun. I'll let mom and dad showcase their own work, but here are some of Rochelle's and mine. Just click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/taylors2004/TulipFestival
That's all for now... have a lovely day!
BJ

Ta ta for now

I'm going to India. I'll be gone roughly during the same time Rochelle is gone. I'll be staying in Pune, a place well known for technical outsourcing. I'll be helping with training, and organization. Dave my boss will be there with me. I'll tell you all more when I know more.
BJ

Goings On

Well, Finals time is just around the corner. It has been a good semester, my busiest yet. I have been able to spend time in clinicals in pediatrics, mother/ baby, and labor and delivery (which I loved- I wish my time there had not been cut short!). I am signed up for classes next fall already. I will be doing ICU and psych nursing. I don't know how I feel about that, but I have heard that ICU is great.
I am here for only 22 more days before I leave for Argentina- isn't that crazy!? It really crept up fast! I am excited, and yet a little apprehensive, and of course, sad that I won't be able to share it all with BJ. He says he will be fine and will take care of him self ok, and I'm sure he will. I just hope he doesn't get too lonely. I am sure he will be visiting around! I will be working Mondays through Thursdays in the hospital, and one of those days I also work in the community in the comedores (where the children in the neighborhood can go to get one semi- decent meal a day.) I think that is how the schedule will go. I am trying to brush up on my Spanish and learn some medical terms. Wish me luck! We will be staying in a youth hostel, which from the pictures looks fairly decent, and it is much safer than the area were going to be staying before. I will be using Skype to call from Argentina, since it would cost like $800.00 to make one or two calls a week on my cell phone, because of high roaming charges etc. Good thing they will have internet there! Pretty much everything is set up, and I am starting to pack things. I am planning on blogging if I have time while I am down there; at any rate I will keep a journal, and will fill everyone in when I get back!
That's all for now, folks!

Catch up...

Well, it has been a while since I have posted... or for that matter since either of us posted. We apologize and promise to do better. But we have a good excuse... in fact we have a couple of good excuses. Shortly after Rochelle ran her half marathon, Rhonda and family came into town for their spring break. We really enjoyed having you here Rhonda, Taylor, and Emily. We miss you and think often of you. But before their visit was even over, we also were welcoming Rochelle's family into town. Thankfully, their spring break was a week later than Taylor's and Emily's, but we still had a little bit of crossover on the weekend, where we were doing our best to spend time with both families. And of course, Rochelle still had school, and I still had work. During the week that Rochelle's family was here, we spend much time at family gatherings, dinners, and game nights. In general, the moment Rochelle and I were both free from our normal obligations, we immediately left to go meet up with family for the past two weeks. We wouldn't have it any other way, but it left us with little time for blogging. And although we miss all of you who have now gone home, we are grateful for our time to catch up on the many details in our lives that we have neglected... like buying groceries, doing laundry, blogging, and sleep. ;-) We have many things that we could talk about, Rochelle's run, our visits with family, conference (I got to go up to the conference center for the priesthood session), Rochelle's hectic school life, and her upcoming trip to Argentina. But for now... I think I'll settle for going and taking a shower right now (I think you will all approve), and letting Rochelle blog about what she will. I'll probably post some pictures later.
BJ

They did it!! 13.1 Miles

Smart dummies, water aerobics, and half marathons

Well... I should be in clinical right now, but as we were waiting for our instructor in the lobby of the hospital, a pediatric nurse came down to tell us that our instructor was sick, and we could go home. So! Here I am, trying to think of ways to use my time "wisely". I have so many options!
I have a couple of papers I could work on, or a presentation on ADHD- medications versus behavioral therapy- for next week, a presentation on women's health in two weeks, a pediatrics test starting this week, a religion test ending this week, two online quizzes, cleaning, grocery shopping, reading for my classes, preparation for a pediatric simulation lab tomorrow, and/or go running! But don't worry, I don't have to do all of this today!
(For those who may be wondering, "What is a pediatric simulation lab?" this is a lab where we are given a specific scenario and we practice our skills on Tiny Tim, who is a child- size dummy who actually breathes, has a pulse, reflexes, and blood pressure etc. He is controlled by a computer and he responds to the care we give him/ her. I guess he is a smart dummy.)

Here is an update on my classes and clinical: Last week I spent two days in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit) and border nursery (the feeders and growers- the babies who are almost ready to go home). It was a positive experience. I had to write a short paper on it. I will put part of that paper here:

"I was impressed with how efficient and calm almost everyone was in different situations. Most of the time there wasn’t anything very exciting going on in the nurseries, and we just watched the respiratory therapist and nurses caring for the babies, or, more commonly, we read chart after chart to try to learn about the conditions and treatments the babies were receiving. We also found a couple of nurses who were willing to answer all of the questions we had for them! The alarm to go to assist babies that had just been delivered sounded twice while we were there. The first time we were told we couldn’t come, and we didn’t know what to do, so we just stayed in the NICU. On the second day while we were there, the alarm sounded again, and again we were told that we couldn’t go in because there was already a student there. We really wanted to see the process of admitting, even if we couldn’t watch the respiratory team helping the baby, so we decided to follow them to the room and wait in the hallway. Eventually we were able to accompany them back to the NICU and watch them continue to work on this baby. We watched them insert a UVC (umbilical vein catheter) and UAC (umbilical artery catheter- they put these in instead of a regular IV which could be painful to the baby) and intubate the baby and put it on an oscillating ventilator. Everyone remained very calm, and worked very fast. A large team was there to help the baby.

"Most of the time, I really enjoyed this experience. I was really curious about what went on in the NICU and what it was like for parents who had children there. I feel like it was important for me to see the process, and what the role of the nurse was there. I also realized how frightening it must be for parents to have their child taken there and not know what was happening. It would be so important for the nurse to explain what was happening and realize that the parents have a need to be reassured and to understand what is going on. I think that because of this experience I will be able to understand parents better when they have had a child in the NICU and remember how important it is to treat them with respect and answer their questions."

I have also had the opportunity to shadow a nurse practitioner and a nurse midwife at a midwife clinic. Those were both very neat opportunities, and great learning experiences. Also, for the same class, we had to attend some sort of prenatal class. One of the options was a water aerobics class... which I did with some of my friends yesterday! It was pretty fun, and the pregnant people loved the class and said it was the only way they could get good and safe exercise.

Some other exciting news is that the half marathon is here! I will be running my 13.1 miles this Saturday! I'm a little nervous about it, because I hear it is going to be pretty warm, and I will be running farther than I have run yet! I am taking it pretty easy this week, although I will probably run or jog a little today and tomorrow. My dad will be flying in tomorrow, and will be doing the half marathon with me, Marissa, and two friends from the nursing program. My goal is to just finish and not hurt myself... maybe the next one I do I will try to get a good time or something. I will just be happy to be able to say I've done it!

Well, that's my week; I'm sure I'll be seeing/ talking to many of you soon.

My wife is a GENIUS

I'd like to take a moment to brag about my wife, the genius. She was notified today that she's on the dean's list, and she's too humble to write about it herself, and with a little help from dictionary.com, I'm going to take a moment to brag about her genius. ;-) Please excuse the run on sentence.
My wife has an incredible ability to absorb things she reads, she is full of accomplishment, she has a miraculous acumen in nursing, she observes her patients at the hospital with great acuteness, not to mention how adept she is in her homemaking and taking care of me, she has a great aptitude for reading, in fact, her aptness in reading give way to an astuteness in conversation, she is constantly bent over backwards trying to get everything done, she’s got a brain worth two of mine, and her brilliance can be seen from miles around, she has a great capability for love, she has a wonderful capacity for creativity, she has a discernment for feelings, she has an endowment of beauty, she is an expert in ‘Public Health Nursing’ in which she works with the faculty of nursing in interviewing people with a flair of her own, she’s got a great grasp on all things gustatorial, she’s got a great head on her, she has a wonderful imagination, and an inclination to help everyone around her, she has a great ingenuity for solving problems, and she is always my inspiration, she is full of intelligence and inventiveness, she has a knack for conversation, she is maestro at the flute, a master at crafts, a mastermind in family economics, and she was more mature at 18 than I was at 24 when we met, she has a great originality, her percipience keeps me in awe, and her perspicacity keeps me on my toes, she has a power to lift me in my darkest hours, and her precocity makes my brightest days brighter, listening to her parents talk about how she devoured books, you know she was a prodigy, she has a propensity for crafts, she has a prowess in card making, while she may not be able reach the chocolate on the top shelf, she has the sagacity to know the right moment to ask me to get it, she has a superability to do anything that she sets her mind to, she has a great talent for making every turn a good turn, she has a deep understanding of what is important, she is a virtuoso of all things good, and best of all, she has the wisdom to keep me around. :-D

The new stuff

This has been a pretty good week; busy as usual. Last Saturday I got to go to a ballet (Swan Lake by Ballet West) up in SLC which was very impressive and fun to see. I got to go with BJ's mom and two nieces, and we made a day of it!
This Sunday we got new callings in our ward. We are now on the activities committee. This is a calling that BJ has had several times before, and one that I look forward to and think will be very enjoyable.
On Valentine's Day, I was in clinical all day. I spent the first half of the day in Mother/ Baby and got to take care of some new moms as well as do newborn assessments, which was sooooo much fun. In the afternoon, I went over to the prenatal clinic area, and I followed the ultrasonographers (the people who do ultrasounds) around. I got to see several ultrasounds, and I was amazed at the skill it takes to interpret what you see on the screen. I loved watching the parents' faces as they saw their baby on the screen for the first time, even if you could hardly tell what was being shown, and their reactions to finding out the gender of their baby(s).
After clinical BJ picked me up, and he surprised me with a big beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card! He also made a delicious dinner for us- very nice, just like in my avatar picture! We will continue to celebrate Valentine's Day next weekend, when we are going to a marriage retreat up in the canyon. We have done this around Valentine's Day for the last two years, and it has become a really fun tradition for us. We stay a night and they provide some catered meals for us, a marriage seminar, and cross country skiing. We have enjoyed this every year we have gone.
This week we decided we couldn't stand our television any longer (the speakers have gone out) so we looked online and bought a used television on craigslist for quite a low price. It turned out to be a nicer and bigger TV than we were expecting... we are going to be rearranging the furniture in our living room anyway, so this will be one more thing to take into account. We have a lot of furniture, and very little space in our apartment! It's kind of cozy though!
On Friday night, we went to our stake's Sweetheart Dance. I borrowed a formal dress from my sister, and BJ dressed up too (we were matching- wearing black- very dramatic.) and we danced the night away! It has been such a long time since we went dancing, and I almost forgot how much fun it is! There was a photographer there taking pictures of couples, and our pictures are supposed to be emailed to us. I'll have to post our picture if it comes anytime soon.
This morning BJ played racquetball with some people in our ward, and I studied to take a test which I have no idea how I did on. :( This afternoon we had a "cousin party" with my mom's side of the family. It was nice to see many of my cousins that I have not seen in a long time. We had a talent show and dinner, and visited with family. Most of my cousins have children of their own, some of them the ages of my siblings. It was fun to see how much they have all grown.
I am really looking forward to President's Day... mostly because I get to "skip" my busiest school day and have a chance to catch up! Unfortunately BJ still has to work, so we won't get to spend the day together, but maybe I will be able to do some stuff for school or hang out with my sister Marissa or something. Maybe laundry...
Well, I wrote way more than I thought I would; I guess we did a few things this week!